Fractured
by Acid-Rush
Summary: That last tiny little crack healed, but wounds don't always heal properly and sometimes there's a scar. Three years after the end of series 2, The Doctor finds a girl and a man finds Rose, and the universe feels the ache of an old wound.
1. Prologue

**Hmm. I'm not sure how this is going to turn out. I've been writing fanfiction for a while, but I've never written anything for the Dr Who fandom before so this is uncharted territory. This story has been floating around in my head for the best part of the last season and now, after seeing the final episode, has decided to force its way out onto paper. It's the tenth Doctor and Rose, disregards the last little part of the episode tag that is the set up for The Runaway Bride, and uses only what has been established in the past two seasons of canon. I'm not a big fan of the earlier episodes and don't really know much about them, so I'm setting this purely within the realms of the 'new' series. **

**Fractured**

_Prologue_

"Rose Tyler…"

He faded away. She cried. And that was the moment that she died.

For three long years, Rose Tyler was dead. She didn't tell herself any more stories like she used to, about how she and The Doctor would be together forever. She didn't smile or laugh. She just _was_.

She couldn't look up at the stars and know that he was out there somewhere, because he wasn't. He was on the other side of the looking glass, completely unreachable, so far away that he wasn't even within her universe. In fact, from what he'd told her, she couldn't even put a distance greater than the size of the universe between them because it just didn't work like that. Distances could be crossed. You could get from A to B, in theory. She couldn't get to The Doctor.

On the morning of the day after the third anniversary of their separation, Rose Tyler woke up and thought that maybe, just maybe, she might get over it. She noticed the water in the shower. She tasted the cereal in the bowl. She felt the Norwegian cold as she stepped out of her front door to go to work.

And then a man settled his gaze on her, and walked slowly over with an expression of slight curiosity on his face, and stopped right in front of her.

"I was supposed to find you," he said.

And once again, Rose and the world lost contact.

* * *

"Rose Tyler…" 

She faded away. He cried. He reached out towards where her mirage had been, and knew – never another.

For far too long, The Doctor allowed himself to be tossed around the universe, swept along at the mercy of the currents of time, helping people or fixing things or landing at those spots of the universe that should just have been visited for their beauty and never, ever really getting involved. It just hurt too much, getting involved. Everybody dies, everybody goes away, and he just didn't want it anymore.

But then, the signs started to appear and the dreams began to come, and The Doctor realised that the winds were picking up again. The storm had blown over at a time that what, for Rose, must have been about three years ago, but another was brewing. He felt the tension in the air. He watched the coincidences from afar with a suspicious eye.

And then he saw a girl in the London street and he regarded her curiously as he slowly walked over to intercept her and stopped right in front of her.

"I was supposed to find you," he said.

And once again, The Doctor and the world touched.


	2. Consequence

**So. I finally dug this story out and decided to pick it up again. Apologies for the temporary abandonment of it - I find it hard to find the time to write, and when I do I usually work on my Tomb Raider fics, of which I have far too many in progress. I need to learn to finish things before starting others! **

**Just to clarify, as I don't think my prologue was that clear - just as the prologue disregarded the lead-in to the Christmas special with Catherine Tate, the rest of this story acts as if season 3 of 'new' Doctor Who hasn't occurred. Also, this chapter takes place in London in the Doctor's universe with new!Rose. 'Our' Rose is still in Norway in the other universe, where we left her at the end of season 2. She will feature in this story, so please don't think I've replaced her with a Mary Sue (ugh - shoot me if I do!).**

_Consequence_ _('New' Rose and 'Original' Doctor - London of 'Original' Universe)_

"I was supposed to find you."

The girl stared back at him, her head cocked to one side slightly and her gaze coming from underneath the lowered lashes of slightly narrowed, calculating eyes.

"Yes," she said, the word drawn out as her suspicions grew, "you were."

Her bleached hair wrapped itself down one side of her face in the wind, the rest of it waving about behind her and her brown eyes regarded him carefully. The hem of her unzipped grey hooded top flapped about underneath the thick book that was clasped to her chest - _"Relativistic Quantum Mechanics"._

"Who are you?" The Doctor asked, completely confounded as to why this was happening.

"My name's Rose Tyler," she replied, shifting her weight slightly to extend one foot out in front of her with all her weight on the other, possibly belligerent. "Who are you?"

"You're not Rose Tyler. She's gone," The Doctor challenged.

"Right here," Rose pointed out.

The Doctor tilted his head slightly, curiosity still his foremost concern. "How long have you been here?"

"All my life?"

"And you're…?"

"Twenty two."

"Hmm." The Doctor considered that for a moment and then walked a slow circle around Rose, the girl watching him from over her shoulders as he passed behind her. He spoke again as he returned to stand in front of her, closer this time and still with that slightly wary air.

"Got a boyfriend called Mickey?"

"No."

"Ricky?"

"No."

"Mum called Jackie?"

"No."

A slight pause. "Got your A-levels?"

"Yes."

"Got a dad?"

"Yes."

"Employed?"

"Student."

Another pause. "Just how did you know I was supposed to find you?"

Rose shrugged, her gaze falling to the pavement as she considered the answer. "Don't know. I just…know you. Somehow."

The Doctor watched her as she stood, still staring sheepishly at her feet. Cars shot past, and a bus, and the wind continued to whip her hair around her face, strands of it sticking to her lipgloss. Slowly, almost afraid of what might happen, he reached out and pulled the hair from her mouth. She looked up, faintly offended by the contact.

Quickly moving on, The Doctor gestured sharply towards the textbook in her arms, his movement diffusing the moment. "Do you understand that?"

"Of course I do!" She looked him up and down, clearly insulted, and hugged the book tighter to her as she turned slightly away from him. Then she relaxed and her expression softened. "Well…mostly. It's a difficult class."

He leaned towards her conspiratorially. "You're a physics student."

"Well obviously," she snapped.

"_My_ Rose Tyler," he said, moving just his eyes to stare down the street behind her before darting his gaze back towards her, making her jump, "never really could grasp physics. Mind you, I don't think she cared to try. And it probably didn't help that I was trying to teach her principles that Earth's best minds haven't hit upon yet. Perhaps I was jumping forwards a little too far." He regarded the street to her right once again, drawing a slightly bemused expression from her, and then took a quick step backwards to a more acceptable distance once more. Rose blinked.

"Were you on your way to or from university?"

"From."

"Wonderful. I'll walk you home. This way, is it?" He pointed in the direction she'd been headed and set off without her.

"Hang on a minute!" Rose argued, not following. "What do you think you're playing at?"

The Doctor turned back and grinned. "Whatever game the universe decides to challenge me to." He spun back and marched off again.

"Hey!" Rose shouted, pointing to a pedestrian crossing leading to the other side of the street that he'd walked right past, "Hey wait! It's this way! This way!!"

* * *

"Stop staring," Rose muttered angrily, flicking an irate and uncomfortable gaze to The Doctor at her side as they walked quickly down the suburban street. He didn't, continuing to scrutinise her as they continued on for the last few steps before she suddenly veered off to the right, pushing open a wrought iron gate with flaking paint and stopping abruptly at an equally flaking old fashioned red door. 

"You don't look quite the same," The Doctor offered.

Rose ignored him at first, shoving a key into the lock and pushing back the door, stepping into a cold hallway with a stained grey carpet and a dirty mug abandoned on a shelf above a radiator, left by who knew who, who knew when.

"Not quite the same as what?" she said at last, going straight towards the narrow staircase ahead and running up it, The Doctor following her with an energy that matched hers in speed but contrasted in its enthusiasm.

"As Rose."

At the top of the stairs, Rose stopped, turned and glared. "I _am_ Rose."

"My Rose!" The Doctor clarified, as if his constant comparisons were no reason to be offended.

Other Rose uttered a harsh, wordless noise of frustration, and spun back to the tiny landing culminating in the front door to her flat. She unlocked that, too, and marched inside, leaving the door swinging open for The Doctor to follow her.

"Very nice!" he cried, staring around the interior before breaking into a smile and shutting the door behind him. "I love what you've done with the place."

"It's a rat infested hole," Rose countered, curtly, as she pushed her textbook back onto the wobbly bookshelf that was probably older than she was, and stashed on the top shelf some scribbled-on A4 paper that had been stuffed between the book's pages.

"Nah!" The Doctor moved to the tiny kitchenette, spinning the carousel of clean cutlery and poking at a plastic basket neatly filled with packet mixes and crisps. "You've done a great job, considering what you've had to work with. Canvas might be a bit tatty, but the paint's nice. Anyway, it's part of being a student, isn't it, having dodgy digs?"

Rose glared once more.

"Look," she said firmly, "I don't know who you are, I don't know _why_ I've brought you back here – why _have_ I brought you back here?" she wondered, throwing her arms out and looking skywards as if the answer would be shown to her, "Forgive me if I'm a little short tempered." She stood, looking at him as he stared patiently back at her. "Well?" she pushed. "What's going on?"

The Doctor blinked. "I'm not sure," he admitted.

"Who's Rose?"

He considered his answer, a fleeting look of nostalgia crossing his features for a barely noticeable moment. "A girl," he replied at last. "She's not here anymore."

"Oh, great." Rose rolled her eyes, slumping. "I've let a bereaved boyfriend into my flat so he can stalk me and tell himself I'm his dead girlfriend."

"You're not my Rose," The Doctor assured her. "I think mine would've been a little more sensitive."

A look of utter horror settled on her face. "Oh…oh, I'm sorry, I didn't…"

"It's alright," he smiled. "I know you're not her." He straightened, standing free from the worktop he'd been leaning against and clapping his hands, the movement immediately reinstating his earlier demeanour of impenetrable energy. "Anyway – she's not dead. She's alive. Just elsewhere, that's all. But there is definitely something going on here and I think we should find out what it is."

"You mean, why I've completely lost my sanity and have started recognising complete strangers before breaking every safety rule in the book and bringing them back to my flat?"

The Doctor grinned, pointing at her. "Oh, you _do_ remind me of her!"

"But I'm a little different," Rose clarified, giving in and sitting down, her words leading him to expand on his earlier statement.

He did so, settling his gaze on her once again and walking towards her, dropping down onto the arm of the chair opposite the small, tattered sofa she sat in. "You're a little taller, your face is a little longer, your eyes are a slightly different shade, your personality is completely different…"

"I thought you said I reminded you of her?" Rose smiled, raising an eyebrow at how easily he listed the differences.

"I don't know," The Doctor replied thoughtfully, "it's not just that you look like her, there's something else. At your very core…you're Rose."

Rose stared at the strange man sitting opposite her, still examining her with narrowed, puzzled eyes. There was something disarming about him. She couldn't argue with him. For some reason, she knew that she could say the same about him – at his very core, she knew him, and she knew that he was supposed to be here. She wanted to disagree, wanted to listen to sense and throw this bizarre and pushy stranger out of her flat before locking the door securely behind him, but she was just powerless to do anything other than ride the current.

"We've never met, have we?" she asked, begging him to validate her.

"No. But something told you we were supposed to, out in that street, didn't it?"

"What's going on?" The whispered words signalled desperation for understanding.

The Doctor looked away, expression still confused. "I need to think about this," he said, standing. "I'll go, but I'll come back when I know more."

"Alright." Rose stood too, nodding. "I've got lectures all day tomorrow, but I'll be home about five. You just press the button for Flat 2 by the front door and I'll come and let you in."

He nodded, uncharacteristically quiet. "Ok." Still lost in thought, he let her show him to the door and stepped out onto the landing. "Goodbye, Rose."

"Bye…er…?"

"Doctor. I'm just, 'The Doctor.'"

"Doctor," she repeated, trying the title, finding it somehow held a completely different air to what she expected, conjuring up a feeling all of its own totally separate from the doctors that taught her at university or the doctors that worked in hospitals and clinics. Strange.

He moved off down the stairs, slowly, and Rose closed the door to her flat.

* * *

He'd worked hard at ignoring the silence for the last three years, but as he stepped back into the TARDIS, The Doctor was hit by its emptiness as hard as he had been in those first few weeks after leaving Rose in the alternate universe. His footsteps seemed to echo loudly as he crossed to the console, running his hands over the controls. 

"It all catches up with you, eventually, doesn't it?" he asked himself. Perhaps, he should have taken on a new companion after all.


	3. Corollary

**Sorry for the delay - I had trouble with this chapter, so I skipped ahead and wrote some of the later stuff instead. Trouble is, you can't post later stuff until you've done earlier stuff. It would be nice if we weren't stuck on a linear timeline, wouldn't it? I need a Fic TARDIS.**

**Thank you for your lovely reviews! Reviews are always welcome, constructive criticism included. :-) **

**Since both pairs of Doctors and Roses in this story have the same names (for the moment anyway - very shortly I shall be making it much easier to distinguish between them), I'm going to refer them as 'New' (my creations) and 'Original' (TV characters), and specify in which location each chapter takes place. Original Rose is still in Norway of the other universe where we left her in Doomsday, and Original Doctor is in London of our universe. It'll get easier soon, I promise!**

_Corollary ('Original' Rose and 'New' Doctor - Norway of 'Other' Universe)_

"Doctor? Oh my god, Doctor is that you? Doctor!" Flinging her bag down on the pavement in the middle of Bergen, Norway, Rose leapt into his arms, wrapping her own around his neck and burying her face into his shoulder. He only just managed to catch her. The next second, she had dropped herself back to the ground and was holding his head, searching his face.

"You've regenerated again – what happened? How did it happen? It's only been the once, hasn't it?"

He pulled her hands away from his cheeks, cutting her short as he backed off slightly. "I'm sorry," he asked, confused, "do I know you?"

Rose's face froze. "You _are_ The Doctor, aren't you? Of course you are, I know you are, I do!"

"I'm The Doctor…but I don't think I've had the pleasure…at least, not yet, anyway." He narrowed his eyes in confusion, cocking his head slightly. "How do I know you?"

"You don't remember me?" Rose's joy was replaced with dismay, before quickly turning to the one possible refuge she could think of. "You're not in your eleventh form? Or older?"

"Tenth," The Doctor replied, eyes darting left for a second as he weighed up the implications of the girl suggesting that she knew him in his tenth form even though he had no memory of her. Not quite believing he was having such discussions with a human he didn't yet know he could trust, he asked, "Are you from my future?"

"No." She shook her head, not quite believing what she was hearing. "I knew you in your ninth form too!"

Falling straight back into the dismay from only moments before, Rose turned away, suddenly finding it hard to breathe, her whole world consisting only of the thought that her deepest fear had come true, her reaction almost a wonder that he could have done such a thing. "Oh my god, you've forgotten me, you have!"

"Oh, no, no, no!" Directing his words more at the situation rather than Rose's statement, it was The Doctor's turn to shake his head, indignant at the universe's failure to adhere to all the rules it should have. "Look, I've never met you!"

The girl before him froze, head turning slightly towards him as a thought apparently entered her mind. Slowly, she moved to face him, her expression now showing an understanding that was almost accusatory.

"You're not him."

"What? I'm The Doctor, I thought we just established that."

"He's still in the other reality. You're The Doctor from this one."

"What?"

"I'm not from here. I fell through the void three years ago. My Doctor's still over there."

"I'm sorry – you fell through the void?!"

Rose nodded slowly. Thinking quickly, The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver from his overcoat pocket and ran it over Rose, blue light flashing rapidly.

"Amazing. So you have! When?"

"Three years ago."

"Really?"

There was silence, neither one of them sure of how the conversation should be continued.

"It's nice to meet you," The Doctor offered at last.

Rose's face broke into something resembling an incredulous, silent laugh. "Look," she said after a moment, taking charge, "is your TARDIS around here somewhere?"

The Doctor's eyes, wide and bemused, darted to the side for a moment. "Yes."

"Well?" Rose pushed when he made no move, "Shall we go?"

"Oh!" The Doctor practically leapt to attention, suddenly cottoning on to her intentions. "Oh, alright. It's, erm…this way. It's this way." Spinning to face back the way he had come, he held out a hand to gesture for Rose to take the lead, and together they hurried off down the street.

Some minutes later, she found that the walls were darker, the lights had a browner tinge to them, and she could have sworn that the central console was just a little bit smaller.

"It's different." Rose walked up the ramp from the TARDIS' door slowly, too busy examining her surroundings and noting the lack of an expected feeling of homecoming, to take much notice of where she was headed. The Doctor edged around her, careful not to let her bump into him, careful not to touch her or guide her away.

"Different how?" he asked distractedly, fiddling about on the console.

"Just little things. Barely noticeable."

"How do you know it's different, then?"

She stopped, looking at him. "Because," she said firmly, "I know. This was my home, before I got ripped away from it."

At her tone, The Doctor stopped what he was doing and, somewhat sheepishly, gave her his full attention. The atmosphere was uncomfortable. She knew now that he wasn't who she wanted him to be. He felt like she was blaming him.

"You said you fell through the void three years ago," he said, diffusing the situation the only way he knew how, by turning to a puzzle. "What happened?"

Rose blinked, clearly saddened by the memories. Turning and walking slowly to the railing, she hopped up onto it and balanced there, her legs crossed at the ankles. "Daleks were forcing their way through to our universe from the void, where they'd been hiding. It…sort of…left this big crack. Cybermen used it to come through too, both of 'em fought each other and nearly destroyed the world in the process…The Doctor had to open the crack to get them all sucked into the void so he could close it up and leave them trapped there. We were getting sucked in too because we'd already been to a parallel world."

Her voice began to quieten, her words slowing, her head bowed almost as if she didn't want him to see the expression on her face. "I couldn't hold on. I was getting sucked in and then my dad from this world came through with some transport thing from their Torchwood. He caught me and brought me back here. He saved me."

"But the break between the worlds was closed before you could get back," The Doctor finished, walking towards her slowly. "You were trapped."

"There was a little crack left. He used it to say goodbye, before it sealed up." She sniffed, composing herself, tossing her hair and taking a breath. "Leaving me here. I've got my mum and Mickey from my world; he sent them through too, for safety. Got my dad from this world, my little sister. I'm doing alright."

"I'm sorry."

She looked up to see him watching her solemnly, the same look on his face that her Doctor got when he was sympathetically serious. The silence pervaded for a moment, the gentle hum of the TARDIS barely audible to ears that were so used to it.

"You're so like him."

The Doctor looked uncomfortable for a second, breaking eye contact quickly before immediately re-establishing it again, returning to business. "Just how similar are we?"

"Very." Rose reacted as if anything else would have been absurd. "I thought you were him, when I first saw you. When he regenerated, he looked completely different, but you and him are so alike you could be twins. I mean, there are differences, little ones. Like your hair, that's darker. But…really similar. You don't just look like him, either, you sort of behave like him. Sort of."

"And the TARDIS is similar but different?"

Rose nodded, looking around at the ship again. "Yeah."

The Doctor looked utterly confused. "Well that doesn't make sense!"

"Why not? You're from a parallel universe, you're supposed to be a bit different, aren't you?" She watched him turn and stride out across the walkway, immersed in the dilemma, just like she'd seem him so many times before.

"For me to look so similar to your Doctor, but still different, the two worlds must have split during the regeneration that gave me this form, when most of the genetic code was stabilised, but not all. But if that were true, the TARDIS wouldn't be different." He spun, addressing her quickly, his sentences with barely a pause between them. "Are you sure it's different?"

Rose frowned, ignoring his question in favour of a better piece of information. "They must have separated earlier than that – I was never born in this universe. And my dad's alive here – my real dad died when I was a baby."

"Oh – well, then that is strange." The Doctor's brow furrowed, his gaze, up towards the ceiling, far away and thoughtful. "You'd expect some similarities for a few decades or so, with the worlds starting out on the same time trajectory, but for something as random as appearances to coincide…that's just bizarre."

"So…what are you saying?"

Train of thought suddenly halted against a brick wall, his attention fell back to her. When he spoke, his voice was filled with utter amazement. "I don't know what's going on!"

Rose laughed. "That _is_ bizarre."

An air of thoughtfulness fell over The Doctor once again, quiet and pondering. "Were you going to work?" he asked.

Taking the hint and begrudgingly admitting to herself that she really should have been going whether he wanted her to or not, Rose slipped down from her seat on the railings and shouldered her bag. "Yeah," she nodded. "I shouldn't be too late if I run. No chance you can pop us back in time half an hour, is there?"

Her joke fell flat.

Suddenly feeling very unwelcome, Rose hurried to the door and let herself out into the rubbish-filled alley of cracked concrete and crumbling mortar in which the TARDIS hid. She stopped and stared at the conspicuous blue box for a moment, half expecting it to start fading in and out of current existence, leaving her once again. It didn't, instead just standing there silent and unyielding. Turning, she took off at a run.


	4. Same Difference

**Look! An update! After only a week! I haven't managed a feat like that in two years. **

**Huge thank yous for my reviews, as ever. They make me feel warm and fuzzy. :-D**

_Same Difference ('New' Rose and 'Original' Doctor - London of 'Original' Universe)_

The front door was open – only a crack, but it was open. Perhaps someone had slammed it behind them and it had bounced back, the draft unnoticed through the inner doors to the flats. Making sure that _he_ shut it properly, The Doctor gently pushed it closed and stood, listening to laughter and loud music. A slight knowing smile crept onto his face. It was Friday night and he was in a student house. Of _course_ there was a party.

The din was coming from the door opposite him, on the left of the hall. The one behind him didn't seem to be filtering any noise at all, and there wasn't any that he could hear coming from Rose's place upstairs either.

He knocked on the noisy door. No answer came, so he went ahead and opened it, poking his head through and looking around for Rose in the overcrowded bed sit. Catching the eye of a boy eyeing him curiously from the sofa just inside the door, he grinned. "Is Rose here?"

"No, mate. Upstairs."

The Doctor smiled and nodded his thanks, quickly ducking back out again.

"Rose?" he called, bounding up the steps. "Rose!" Reaching her door, he put his ear to it and listened. Nothing.

"Rose, are you in there?"

Inside, Rose looked up sharply. It was him again. Suddenly having something to do that Friday night, she swung her legs off the sofa where she'd been lying bored and despondent, and crossed quickly to the door. She opened it, greeting him with a questioning expression. "Doctor?"

The Doctor jerked his head towards the staircase. "I thought you'd be downstairs."

"Oh. I don't know them." She gave a tiny shake of her head and a flat smile.

"They know you." Her visitor pushed his way in, standing in the small open space behind her and turning to face her where she still leant against the open door. "Going out somewhere else, then? I can come back if you're going—"

"No, no plans." Rose cut him off, smiling weakly.

"Oh."

Slightly thrown off balance by the realisation that the girl seemed rather lonely, The Doctor forgot about his reason for visiting, and instead stood and looked around at the flat, a little more closely than last time.

It was…bare. Yesterday, it had been the sort of bare that came from little money and a tidy nature that abhorred the overfilling of small spaces, but today it seemed more like the bare that came from not having anything more than furniture and possessions. There weren't any pictures of Rose or anyone else, there were no objects that stood out from the rest as if someone had bought the occupant a gift that didn't quite fit with the recipient's usual purchases, and there were no empty coat pegs or spare mugs left lying around for regular visitors. His eyes came to rest on the cork notice board hanging inside the kitchenette and the single concert ticket pinned to it.

"Everything alright?" The words broke him out of his reverie, leaving him staring questioningly at the girl who had spoken them.

"I'm sorry?"

"I asked if everything was alright."

"Oh…yes. Everything's fine, listen…do you want to go for a walk?"

She met his almost comically exaggerated expression with one that was rather more bemused. An odd request, she thought, but still better than spending another Friday night in her flat. Smiling, she plucked her jacket from the pegs behind her and pushed the door open wider, gesturing for him to go first.

"I met Rose about five years ago," The Doctor began some ten minutes later as he and the other Rose climbed the shallow incline of the road bridging the canal. "It was in a department store, with all those killer mannequins, do you remember that?"

Other Rose frowned, trying to remember. "Oh…yeah…it was on the news. Some terrorist group in weird disguises or something, weren't they?"

"Er…yeah. Anyway, I travel a lot and Rose didn't really have much going for her at the time, so she decided to come with me. We had a fair few good times over the years, more than our fair share of scrapes, and then she found some family in Norway and had to stay there. I haven't seen her since."

"Well, if you travel a lot…I mean, Norway's not that far away."

"It's far enough."

Closed off once again, The Doctor stopped on the brow of the bridge and leant on the wall, staring down at the quietly rippling water below as it glittered in the lights of the waterside buildings. Rose hopped up onto the wide bricks, sitting with her feet dangling just above the pavement, regarding the district in the opposite direction.

"Do you have a photo of her?" Rose ventured.

The Doctor looked surprised for a moment, but accepted her offer of friendship. Reaching into a pocket, he pulled out his psychic paper, thought of _his _Rose, and held it out.

"Wow," the new Rose said, clearly more than a little amazed at how alike she and the girl she saw on the paper were. "We're almost twins." After a moment, she handed the photograph back. "This is getting confusing," she laughed. "Perhaps you should use my middle name instead of calling me Rose."

The Doctor looked to her, realising she was right. "And that is…?"

"Grace."

"Grace." The Doctor repeated it, trying it out. Happy with the decision, he bounced back to his usual energetic demeanour and held out a hand to help his newly-named friend down from the wall. "Alright, Grace, well shall we—"

"Alright, Rose? Hiya, how's it going?" Grace and The Doctor looked up to the young man who had shouted, now crossing the deserted street towards them.

Grace smiled politely. "Hi, Ben."

"You off out tonight?" Ben stopped in front of them, grinning at each of them in turn.

Grace seemed a little unsure of herself. "I don't know. Might be, we'll see."

"Oh, well, I'm just off down to the pub to meet some mates and later we're going out on the High Street. Maybe I'll see you there, yeah?"

"Ok."

Grace nodded, uncomfortable, as Ben grinned once more and began to back away, still talking. "Well, if I don't, see you Monday. Big test. Ugh!" He pulled a face of mock terror and then gave a short wave before turning and hurrying away.

"That was Ben from my class," Grace explained. "We've got a test in E-Mag."

The Doctor regarded her for a moment. "You don't have to apologise for not going out, you know."

"I wasn't apologising."

"You seemed to be. Anyway, you are out. Come on." He pulled her from her perch and began to drag her further over the bridge. "There's a great view just up here and I bet you don't even know about it. You humans, always wanting to travel here and see that, and you never bother to look around where you live."

"What do you mean, 'you humans'?"

"Nothing! Anyway, there were some things I wanted to ask you."

"Like what? Do you know what's going on, yet?" He was still pulling her along the road, faster than she could comfortably walk, and she was wondering, once again, just what she was doing with this strange man. A single decker bus lurched by, engine whining, and Grace caught a sight of the few people sat inside it, lit brightly by the interior lights that shone in stark contrast to the dim night outside.

They reached the other side of the bridge, crossed the road in front of them, and started up the steep hill on the other side. Still, Grace received no answer, but she was too busy trying to keep up with him to press for one.

"Here," he announced a short while later as they reached the top. He stopped dead, grabbing Grace's shoulders and turning her around to look back the way they had come. "Have you stopped and really looked at this view, at night?"

She didn't answer, lost in it for a moment. She'd seen it almost every day since moving to the area, coming over the hill on the bus, and she knew that the hilltop gave a good vantage point, but she'd never actually stopped and examined it. Little orange lights blazed in every direction as far as she could see, the pink neon sign of a bar near the bottom leapt out from the surrounding darkness, shadowy people hurried in the cold, and car headlights swept past in pairs on the flyover nearby.

"Why get drunk in a bed sit when you can come out and see this, eh?" The Doctor enthused.

Grace laughed. "It's amazing! Is that my house?"

"Tell me," The Doctor said, ignoring her possibly rhetorical question and becoming serious as he stood next to her and looked out over the city, its inhabitants oblivious to him watching, "do you ever dream?"

"Dream?" Grace spared a glance. "Of course I dream, everybody does."

"Of aliens and monsters? Of other planets? Of things that haven't happened to you with people you've never met in times you've never lived? So vividly that when you wake up you could swear that it happened?"

Her short laugh was a little derisory. "No, they're usually just very mixed up and more than a little Freudian."

There was silence between them for a few seconds, everything surprisingly quiet given their location. There were very few cars, Grace thought.

"Does anything strange ever happen to you, then?" The Doctor moved to face her, standing just to one side to allow her to keep the view, so high above it all. "Anything regularly out of the ordinary?"

Grace looked nonplussed. "No."

His eyes drawn away to something behind her, The Doctor's gaze took on a slight tinge of shock. "You don't get…followed by men in black, or anything?"

"Men in Black? That's a bit Roswell, isn't it?" She didn't notice the look on his face, too immersed as she was in the sights around her.

"Not that kind." The Doctor nodded slowly towards the object of his attention, causing her to turn, realising that something was wrong. "Those kind."

A few dozen metres away a dark, shadowy figure stared back at them. His clothes, black and layered, perhaps a long open coat over a shirt and trousers, flapped about in the wind, but it was hard to tell which layer was above the other. His face might have been thin and pale, but it was hard to actually focus on it. Fixing a gaze on his hair left the viewer straining their eyes to make it out against the sky behind him, one seeming to merge into the other in a constant state of flux.

The Doctor had no idea what or who he might have been seeing, but he was in no doubt as to the instincts it awoke.

"Run," he said simply, and then repeated himself more firmly. "Grace, _run_." Taking her hand, he turned and began to sprint down the hill, yanking Grace's arm as he set off and pulling her forcefully from an almost catatonic state of bewilderment.

"Who is that?" she cried, careering along behind him with her free arm flailing as she fought to keep her balance.

"I don't know!"

They continued to run, fleeing down the steep hill as fast as they could manage, just knowing that the figure was following. Grace risked a quick glance back, finding the shadow chasing after them and gaining. It wasn't running. It was flying, just sweeping after them as if it didn't need the ground to propel itself forwards, moving at an inhuman speed, far too smoothly to be natural.

"Grace, this way!" Reaching the road at the bottom of the hill, over which was the canal bridge and home, she found herself being pushed around the corner and urged to follow the street. She did, The Doctor now behind her, feeling somehow that he was responsible for her and that he should be between her and the shadow. Still, he didn't think it was going to help. She was maintaining her lead, but she was sprinting as fast as she could to hold it, and she'd almost certainly tire too soon.

With a weight that was almost crushing, The Doctor felt an enormous force impact on his back, knocking the air painfully from his lungs and sending him flying forwards into the thankfully empty road. Skidding and rolling as he landed, crying out loudly from the pain, it took only a quick, snatched glance to realise that however the figure had hit him, it hadn't been physically. Their attacker had only just rounded the corner and was fixated purely on Grace. Stilled by the pain for a moment, The Doctor helplessly called out to the fleeing girl.

"Grace! Faster!"

She couldn't obey. Even under the adrenaline in her system, her body just couldn't push itself any further. She looked back.

The shadow pounced.

Leaping forwards, covering a frighteningly long distance, it tackled her. She and The Doctor screamed, but whilst her cry was wordless, his consisted of a name.

"Rose!"

As its hands took hold of her shoulders and the impending weight of its body followed to knock her off her feet, she twisted around and forced her elbow as hard as she could into its chest. They hit the ground, her retaliation having pushed them to land, with the figure's hold on her still intact, on their sides. She struggled, kicked, and lashed out blindly as the aggressor did its best to hold her down and climb above her.

"Grace!" The Doctor was scrambling to his feet, ignoring the jarring pain in his arm and side and dashing forwards to her.

As the shadow managed to straddle her and raised one arm as if to attack, Grace instinctively took the opportunity it presented, and slammed a flattened palm into its chest.

It disintegrated. The impact of her shove sending it backwards, from head and foot it tore itself apart in a golden blaze, becoming nothing more than fine, sparkling dust that was tossed into the air and rained down upon her. In a short moment, it had ceased to exist.

The Doctor halted, amazed. He hadn't seen that happen since –

"Grace? Grace, what did you do?" He ran to her side, taking her hand and arm, helping her sit. She was dazed, confused, shaken. "What did you do?"

She looked at him, her eyes slightly unfocussed, her expression showing utter disorientation.

"What?" she said.


	5. Incomplete

**I already tried to upload this, and the site crashed just as I was finishing my final edits, which was INTENSELY ANNOYING. Anyway, after real life, crashing websites, and devoting some writing time to a fic competition for another fandom, I finally managed to get this updated. Again, apologies for the wait. I just can't seem to meet deadlines these days.**

**I'm pretty sure I replied to my lovely reviewers, but if I only think I did, and actually didn't, then let me thank you for hitting the review button. And for bothering to put up with my tardiness. A chocolate Doctor goes to Isis The Sphinx for guessing the twist correctly. :-D**

_Incomplete ('Original' Rose and 'New' Doctor - Norway of 'Original' universe)_

They'd started out slow and unsure at first, but as Rose got further down the alleyway and closer to the corner behind which hid the TARDIS, she found her footsteps beginning to run away with her.

What if he wasn't there?

What if the TARDIS had gone?

What if it was just an empty alley behind an abandoned nightclub?

He wasn't there. She knew it. She could see herself rounding the corner and finding nothing more than a deserted concrete and brick passage stretching out before her to its one locked door, almost frightening to walk down. She just couldn't see it happening any other way. She couldn't _feel_ it any other way.

The edge of the building got closer, her view of the wall beyond it getting steadily wider, the orange painted corner bricks sharp and stark in her near vision. Any moment she'd round the corner and be confronted with –

The TARDIS.

It loomed above her, blocking the way, almost menacing, almost boxing her in, in the tiny alley. There it stood in the freezing air, a rotting flier for a local band poking out from the corner beneath it, ground into the concrete with rain and time.

She took the last few steps towards the box with a sudden apprehension and slowly reached out. Her fingertips gently touched the door and, encouraged by the contact, she flattened her hand against the wood and pushed.

Unlocked, it swung open.

Rose stepped inside, looking around for signs of life. The room was empty, no sign of The Doctor – no, she reminded herself, _a_ Doctor – or of another companion. She thought she should feel relieved at not being greeted with an offended face silently questioning her right to enter, but in fact she just felt like even more of an intruder.

"Hello?" There was no answer, so she called again. "Doctor?"

The seconds that followed were silent, no footsteps or answers. She assumed he hadn't heard her. This wasn't her TARDIS or her Doctor; she couldn't go wandering around looking for him.

Not quite sure what to do, she sighed and moved off back down the ramp, pulling open the door and heading back out.

The sight of somebody's feet in her lowered gaze made her yelp in surprise, quickly following it with a short scream as her eyes shot upwards and took in the person's face.

Dark, hollow eyes in a cold, pale visage, the figure was like a mirage. It was lacking in solidity, fluxing, translucent…almost a ghost.

She screamed again as it suddenly appeared much closer to her, nearing without moving, black eyes staring down into hers with lifeless menace. Knocked back by fright, her stumbling feet caught on the TARDIS' doorstep and she fell, tumbling back through the door and landing on the floor, kicking the door shut, scrambling to her knees and reaching up to turn the lock as fast as she could manage.

"What?!"

The Doctor had appeared, greeting the calamity with offended confusion.

"There's something out there!" Rose gasped, getting to her feet and running over to him, pointing back at the doorway as she went. "I don't know _what_ it is, but it's scary."

The Doctor still seemed to think that whatever it was, it shouldn't have been happening to him. "What kind of scary? What does it look like?"

Before she could answer, Rose was thrown against him as the entire ship lurched, knocked with such force that somewhere in her racing brain, Rose wondered if the ship's huge interior would make it stable, or whether it could topple like the small box of its exterior, sending them falling through air and crashing against supports like rag dolls.

Steadying each other, they listened to the silence that just promised another attack.

It came.

The TARDIS was hit again, and again, and again, the sounds of the impacts echoing throughout the control room and their force making the very ship shudder and jerk. Rose and The Doctor, holding on to whatever they could to remain upright, looked at each other in horror.

"I know you said that those doors could withstand an entire herd of Genghis Khans, or whatever, but are you _sure_ we're alright in here?"

A particularly violent shake interrupted them, sending the Doctor falling painfully into a support column and Rose stumbling against the chair, tripping and falling into the handrails. They righted themselves, using whatever was near as anchors, and hung on through the shaking, as strong as an earthquake.

The Doctor swallowed, looking decidedly unsettled as he braced his back against one of the tall and sinuous tree-like columns and wrapped his arms more tightly behind it. "It can't get in," he said firmly.

"Well can it knock us over?" Rose pressed. "Can it damage something in here? What if it doesn't go away? We can't just hope we can hold on longer than it can bash us about!"

The Doctor's mouth opened and then closed again as he looked around the TARDIS, clearly having no answer, and once again, Rose found herself having to take charge. The attack was on the roof now, the thunderous crashing continuing unabated, its strength not waning, the hammering and shaking seemingly far too strong to be withstood even by the TARDIS.

"We have to get out of here!" Rose cried over the noise from where she sat against the railings, her limbs wrapped around them in an effort to remain in place. "We need to move the TARDIS!"

The Doctor spared her a quick shake of his head, cut short as he winced at the effort to steel himself against a particularly vicious pounding above him. "If it's on the TARDIS, it'll just get taken with us, and if Jack can hang on, then this thing certainly can."

"It's worth a try, isn't it? What else are we going to do?"

The Doctor didn't answer, so she pushed further. "Can't you do something so it won't get taken with us?"

He looked away, shaking his head again, muttering his answer noncommittally. "Maybe…alter the time bubble…phase the TARDIS first…"

"Do you _want_ to get out of this alive, or would you rather your ship was torn apart and we were beaten to death in the process?"

The Doctor's answering expression was rather guilty, but still he made no move. The lack of optimism and enthusiasm would probably have depressed Rose at any other time, but fearing for her life as she was, it just made her angry.

"Fine!" she snapped, and lunged for the control console, clasping her hands onto the edge of it as her feet were knocked from underneath her by another violent shake of the room. "I'll just do it myself, shall I? I mean, if you've got no better ideas, what have we got to lose? I've seen you do it enough times, and if I make a mistake, well, I'm sure it won't be that big a deal compared to our current situation, will it?"

"It won't work," The Doctor maintained.

Rose, knelt against the console and hanging on by the very controls she was trying to manipulate, stopped to glare. "It's worth a try," she reiterated through gritted teeth.

"No," The Doctor managed, as his struggle to remain upright got harder with every wearying blow by their attacker, "it _really_ won't work."

"And why not?"

He looked at her, finally, his sheepish expression completely unfamiliar to her. "The TARDIS doesn't move. There's no time vortex to power it."

Rose blinked. "What?"

"The TARDIS doesn't work!" It was quite clearly all The Doctor had to offer.

"What?!" Rose said again. The anger in her was rising, distracting her from the situation at hand and leaving her with an almost overwhelming need to throttle him. He wasn't supposed to be like this! He was supposed to relish the challenge, always have an answer, leave everything to the very last second before winning with ease…emanate the silent assurance that she was always safe.

Another deafening crash and the violent jolt that accompanied it caught Rose off-guard in her moment of betrayal, and, crying out, she was thrown to the floor. Genuinely worried for her, The Doctor grabbed for the nearby handrail and managed to make the few steps towards her through the violent rocking of the TARDIS, taking her hand and pulling her to her feet.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

Rose's answer was only to look him straight in the eyes with something approaching pure contempt, before snatching her hand away and turning towards the hatch where she knew the vortex should be. She managed two shaky steps before being knocked to the ground once again, but in her ire she only took the fall in her stride, allowing it to take her closer to the goal and using the console to pull herself the rest of the way.

Snatching at the cover, it came away in her hand too easily.

Inside, it was empty.

"But--!" Rose began. His words proven true, Rose's anger was replaced with confusion. She looked to him, dumbfounded.

"There's just…no vortex."

"But why?" Rose pressed. "Where is it?"

They were interrupted as the doors to the TARDIS bulged inwards, the lock on them straining, as they suddenly became the focus of the attack, and the impact sent Rose tumbling, her arm reaching out to break her fall, and going straight into the hatch.

Cold, so pure that it was painful, latched onto her arm. It pulled her further in, suction so icy and so strong that it felt as if the tissue was being pulled from her bones, felt as if she was reaching into a perfect vacuum.

She tried to pull away, tried to free herself, but the invisible force only sucked harder at her frozen fingers. "Doctor, what's happening?" she cried, looking to him with eyes wide. In reply he only darted forwards, stumbling towards her and dropping to his knees, trying to rescue her from the inexplicable grip.

The cold suddenly got worse, eliciting a scream of pain and fear from her as her forearm was suddenly encased in a flowing, pulsing white, being drawn out from her very flesh.

The time rotor above the console began to rise and fall.

"What?" The Doctor fell back, staring up at the central column, its green glow stronger and the unmistakable sound of the TARDIS preparing to depart filling the room.

It was almost too much for Rose. She was torn between the icy pain of her trapped arm and the realisation that she had somehow just powered up the ship. As fast as it had taken hold of her, it released her, and she yanked her arm away, scrabbling back to the handrail behind her, crouching there with her knees to her chest and her arm clutched protectively by her other hand.

The attack had ceased and the room was still.

Standing slowly to shut off the engines, The Doctor continued to stare up at the rotor, now sitting still, silent, and passive.

"What the hell did it just do to me?" Rose's voice was shaky, her tone accusing.

The Doctor ignored her, still overcome with wonder. "We just travelled. The TARDIS actually travelled." He turned to look at her then, regarding her with nothing short of awe. "We're five minutes into the future."

Turning, he ran down the ramp and flung open the doors, staring around at the alley where his ship had always just sat, except now it was a future alley, and their unnamed attacker was gone.

He looked back to find Rose behind him, standing meekly in the doorway, still holding her arm, still looking upset.

"It's gone," he offered, "we're safe…and you did it."


	6. Missing Factor

**Heh. Is anyone still reading this after all this time? No. Does anyone need to now that we've had an official Rose return? No. Will I finish this anyway? Yes. Eventually. head/desk I'm sorry.**

_Missing Factor__ ('New' Rose aka Grace and 'Original' Doctor - London of 'Original' Universe)  
_

"Grace," The Doctor repeated forcefully, "_what did you do?_"

Grace lay back on her forearms, eyelids flickering as though suffering from a migraine, and shook her head at his question, intrusive upon her pained state.

"What are you talking about?" she groaned.

"You just disintegrated that thing like it was—just like Rose." The words were enunciated cleanly and sharply, angrily.

"What are you talking about?" Grace was clearly feeling too drained to want to bother with his queries that, to her, were nonsense. Rubbing one eye, she groaned again. "Did I faint?"

Regarding her suspiciously for a moment, The Doctor conceded that she was being truthful in her amnesia, and pulled her to her feet, where she wobbled unsteadily for a moment before getting her balance. "I think I should get you home."

"I'm tired," Grace murmured as they set off, "I'm tired and I haven't eaten much today. I should eat something."

The flat's front door wasn't even fully opened before Grace was lunging for the two-person dining table and battered chairs not too far away. "Could you get me some aspirin?" she breathed, rubbing her temples. "It's in the cupboard above the cooker."

The Doctor was left to close the door behind him and seek out the medicine.

"Here you go," he said cheerfully, holding out a glass of water and two painkillers. They were accepted gratefully and he flopped into the free chair.

As Grace drained the glass, leaving him at a loose end for just a moment, he looked around for something to occupy his mind. There were some sheets of A4 paper off to one side of the table top, a couple bearing photocopied physics exercises and the rest covered in draft and neat copies of the mathematical answers. Interested, he picked them up and began to look them over.

"Oh," he frowned. "This is wrong."

"What?" Grace squinted at him through the remains of her headache and sounded rather downtrodden. The Doctor, however, didn't notice. Instead, he was becoming increasingly engrossed in the calculations, sitting up straighter and staring more closely at the blue inked scribbles. At last, he met her gaze with one of pure amazement.

"How do you know about dark leptons?"

It was becoming her token reaction of the evening, and Grace didn't like it, but she said it anyway. "What?"

"This Feynman diagram," he indicated, sliding a sheet towards her. "The result you've drawn balances out _if_ you know that the interaction uses a dark lepton. No scientist on Earth has discovered those yet. It's still an invisible part of the equation, but you know about it. How?"

The homework's author picked it up, frowning at it. "Wait, no. It's just wrong. I've drawn too many quarks." She reached for a rubber to correct her mistake but The Doctor grabbed her wrist forcefully, drawing a sharp and slightly frightened look from her.

"It's correct."

Grace shook her head. "Are you a physicist? Is that why you're called 'The Doctor'?"

Her question was ignored. Instead, the intense gaze that glittered in the lamplight and scrutinised every inch of her being through her eyes lingered for a moment longer before being swiftly cut off. The Doctor slowly stood.

"Are you up to going back out?" he asked, hands in his pockets.

Grace blinked slowly, taking stock of her health. "I feel better," she said, nodding.

"Good," he replied, and a grin spread across his face.

Some minutes later, Grace's expression was becoming increasingly perplexed as she approached the TARDIS, The Doctor already there and waiting at the door.

"What's a…_Police Box_?" she asked, looking the unfamiliar construction over.

"They used to have them for direct phone lines to the police," The Doctor replied, gesturing to the box as he leaned against it. "Don't need them now – mobile phones and all that. Haven't you seen any of the old ones around the city?"

"'Never really thought about it."

The Doctor's face screwed up in disgust. "Doesn't anyone have any curiosity anymore? I'm beginning to wonder if I should even show you."

"Show me what?" Grace was suddenly indignant, and in response, The Doctor only grinned, excitement visibly building inside of him.

"This!" He pushed the door open and stepped back to let her see inside.

Grace's jaw dropped.

"What the hell?!"

"Isn't it brilliant?" He followed her as she absently wandered inside, awestruck, staring around at the impossibly cavernous interior. Coming to the circular walkway at the centre, she turned slowly, almost stumbling as she continued to look everywhere except where she was going, and then fixed her host with an amazed stare.

"How on _earth…_?"

The Doctor's excitement calmed and he lifted his chin slightly. "You tell me."

"Tell _you_? How am I supposed to tell you? As far as I'm concerned, this is impossible!"

He moved closer, wearing that same expression he'd had when they'd first met, the one that mixed curiosity with suspicion in equal measures. Gently, he took her hand and placed it on the transparent shielding of the time rotor.

"Do you feel that?"

Grace didn't answer, too unsettled and staring up at him timidly.

"Do you feel that tingling?" he asked, his hand still on hers upon the shielding. "This is the TARDIS, a time ship, and that tingling, going right up your arm, is Time and Universe, all wrapped up and flowing through this ship. And you can feel it."

"It's just static electricity," she countered, shaking her head and pulling her hand away.

"You can feel it because it's in you too."

"Don't be ridiculous!" Grace laughed uncomfortably, turning away.

"I know what you are, Grace."

"I'm a student. Just a student. A student with a pathetic, empty life, with no friends and no social life and no particular interest in anything, letting herself get drawn in to the ramblings of some charismatic psycho because she's desperate for something different. That's all!" With those final words and a forceful sweep of her arm, the girl stalked through the doorway and off down the street.

"Grace!"

Staring after her for a moment, incensed, The Doctor frowned. Then, he ran after her. "Grace! Wait! Come back!"

She didn't listen, instead breaking into a run as she heard his hurried footsteps approaching from behind, and The Doctor was forced to speed up similarly, still calling her. Still, she didn't listen, just forcing herself onwards. She wiped away a few tears as she ran.

He caught up to her on the canal bridge and he stretched forwards, straining to catch her arm. "Grace, wait!"

She stopped suddenly, shaking him off and turning towards him with an air between anger and fatigue. From out of the pub on the other side of the street, where the road came back to land and an old milepost declared it three miles to London, a curious figure emerged.

"Leave me alone!" Grace cried, " Just leave me alone!"

He didn't, though, grabbing her elbow and holding her in place. "I know what you are."

"What—are—you—talking about?"

"Rose Tyler – the real Rose Tyler—" The Doctor began, but Grace cut him off, screeching almost hysterically.

"_I'm_ Rose Tyler!"

"No you're not!" The Doctor argued, shaking her arm and shouting over her protestations. "The _real_ Rose Tyler is in a parallel world, an alternate reality. But four years ago she looked into the Time Vortex, which no human should ever do, and I think it left its mark on her. I think there was a tiny trace of it left in her, and I think that trace is now causing an imbalance. There's too much Vortex in her parallel world and not enough in this one, and I think you were created to fill that void."

Grace was staring at him, shaking her head in disbelief and denial and praying for him to just leave her alone.

The figure on the other side of the bridge stood and watched.

"Grace," The Doctor pressed, urgency in his voice, "how did you celebrate your eighteenth birthday?"

"My birthday?!"

"What's the scariest or most painful moment that you'll never forget from your childhood? What was your first kiss like?"

"What the hell are you going on about?" Grace wrenched her arm free and shoved at him pathetically as tears began to stream freely down her face.

"You don't know do you?"

"Just leave me alone!"

"You don't know! The memories aren't there. There are facts, figures, events, but they're not memories. Your whole life prior to the last three years is just a list of dealings that you weren't there for, like you've memorised the biography of somebody else. Last year, you remember. The year before that, and the year before that, it's all real to you, but everything else is just one big history lesson. You're not real, Grace!"

Grace screamed - screamed and buried her face in her hands, shaking, and The Doctor stood before her with no sympathy in his expression.

"Rose?" Grace and The Doctor looked up to see Ben jogging towards them, concerned and confused. "Rose, what's going on?"

"Nothing." She backed away as he reached for her, shaking her head and quickly wiping her cheeks with her sleeve. "It's fine. Thank you." The Doctor, meanwhile, clutched at his hair and turned to face the canal, aggravated.

Ben looked between the two, clearly perturbed. "Are you sure you're all right?" he asked Grace. "I was in the pub," he explained, pointing. "I saw you arguing."

Making only very quick, cursory gestures of eye contact, Grace shook her head again. "It's fine, really. It's just…a thing."

"Look," Ben started. "We've got that test on Monday. A few of us are revising in the pub. You're really good at e-mag, why don't you come and help us? I'll buy you a drink…"

She looked at him, then, surprised. There was a quick glance towards The Doctor, who was watching her intently, and then she looked back to her classmate and shook her head. "I really think I should go home," she said, smiling weakly. "Thanks, though. Another time."

She turned, wrapping her arms around herself, and walked quickly away down the street towards home. The Doctor looked at Ben, silently apologising, and then set off in the opposite direction.


End file.
